getting modern

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cridertj

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My friends can’t believe I finally did it and retired my .50 cal Hawkins and got an inline muzzleloader. I have gotten lots of best ammo to us from friends but wanted you opinions on what I should use I have been practicing with some horniday sabots and have found them a little difficult to load I also found some traditions e-z load sabots that load really good and seam to shoot good I have also been told that power belt bullets are good but have never shot them .I would like to know what is shooting good, loading well and worked good in the field for you all. I have been shooting 100gr 777 which is new powder for me to, is this a good powder to use and am I using the right amount for game loads sorry for all the questions but there are lot more out there now then there was for the old Hawkins.
 
I've always had good luck with powerbelts. They're easy to load actually too easy to load with a clean barrel the manufacturer suggests you shoot a fouling shot first before you load the bullet. I know that they are powerful. My range is in my back yard and my target base is a 16" oak slab 4' in diameter there is a soft spot in the center. After a shooting session I walked up to clean up the targets and noticed that I'd shot through the soft spot the target is at 50yds. at 100yds. the powerbelt went completely through a 4" thick green ash tree.
Beware, I'm told that you can overpower the skirt on a powerbelt. I shoot 90 gr. of pyrodex in my 50 cal. inline.
 
I'll have to agree with Poncho on the Powerbelts. They do have good penetration, especially the copper-clad ones - my problem is that they are hit and miss on bullet expansion. I've seen where others swear by their ability to expand, whle personally I've used them on wild boar and they just flew right through both shoulders with zero expansion.

Also it is DEFINITELY possible to overcharge Powerbelts. If pushed too hard, the skirts won't seperate from the bullet and that absolutely destroys accuracy. I would typically shoot the 348gr version with 90gr of 2fg 777 powder with acceptable accuracy, and that is probably a maximum charge.

As far as sabot bullets go, you want them to be hard to load - that ensures a tight seal over the charge and helps impart spin to the bullet. The Hornady 300gr XTP Mag sabot rounds are a great choice for practice and load work-up as I've found them to be very accurate and consistent. The Hornady SST bullets in 300gr can give pinpoint accuracy over 80gr of 2fg 777 powder out of my Knight rifle. The best sabots on the market are made by these guys: prbullet.com . These things shoot unbelievably well

As you can tell, I favor heavier bullets - 300gr and up. These stabilize better in the faster-twisted in-line rifles IMHO, plus they really knock the living daylights out of game.

I personally favor 777 powder. It's cleaner than Pyrodex or black and more powerful than any other substitute powder. Here is my general loading practices for 777:
300gr sabots = 80gr 2fg 777
350gr sabots = 90gr 3fg 777
400gr sabots = 100gr 3fg 777
348gr powerbelts = 80 to 90gr 2fg 777

Hope this helps get you started.
 
There is another site on the web www.chuckhawks.com. that has a muzzleloading section. The site is a bunch of essays on different subjects about muzzleloading and there are quite a few essays on different loads. One of the contributors,Randy Wakeman, doesn't have much good to say about the lighter Powerbelts and he obviously has a leaning toward sabots. Check it out.
 
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